Today we crossed the halfway point in our journey – we have been on the road for 11 days, and we have 9 more to go since we plan to spend our last night in San Diego in a hotel after dropping the RV in a storage location somewhere in San Diego.
At this point we want to answer some of the questions from our loyal readers:
Q: How far can you go between fill-ups? What does it cost to fill the tank?
A: Our tank holds about 25 gallons of Diesel Fuel, and we try to fill it before we get too low after a disastrous earlier experience you can read about on this blog. We generally go 200 – 250 miles on a tank, which on this trip generally means filling it once a day. This trip, so far, Diesel has been priced between $3.37 and $3.99 per gallon
Q: How do you handle logistics – food, RV hardware, personal items, etc.?
A: While we eat out quite a bit – particularly when visiting friends, we shop exclusively at Walmart Super Centers. Why? Because they have almost everything we need – from Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF,) to replacement water hoses, to shampoo, to food items. And they have huge parking lots and cheap prices. And they are generally laid out the same way at each store so we can find things efficiently. A bonus is that the Murphy Oil stations at southern Walmarts seem to have cheap diesel.
On Wednesday, Valentines day, we departed our nice campsite at San Angelo State Park, destined for Hobbs, NM. We took turns taking showers as there was only one stall in the men’s room.
Even with speed limits of 75 MPH (on two lane roads no less), people still manage to find a way to get pulled over.
Searching for cheap diesel was a bit of a problem in Big Springs, TX – navigator Scott was a bit slow giving directions, and the GasBuddy app steered us to a station that supposedly had cheap diesel, but actually did not sell it. When we found the cheapest diesel at a Murphy Oil at a Walmart, we thought we’d pick up a few items on our list. We bought food, grease for our towbar, our second replacement water hose (as we continue the search for the best and easiest water hookup technique,) and other odds and ends like a scraper in case we encountered more frost. Once again, we left Walmart thinking we had everything we needed, and once again we remembered items we forgot – today it was DEF and napkins.
We then drove until lunchtime, realizing that when we arrived in Hobbs, NM we would cross into Mountain time. Then on to our destination Hobbs RV Park. They called us and said they would have to squeeze us into a smaller spot, then called us back to say a larger spot became available. Like many of the RV parks in this part of the country, RV parks are largely filled with oilfield or other working folks who cannot find or afford other accommodations. As they say here at Hobbs RV Park: “We welcome those that are traveling with their furry friends, traveling nurses, construction crews, pipeline workers, wind farm and power plant workers, and those that just want to rest their heads for a night or two in a clean, comfortable atmosphere.”
Like many parks in this area of the country, the campsites are basically barren gravel parking lots adjacent to the highway with no trees and plenty of road noise. Many don’t have a bathhouse, and the sites are very close together. But Hobbs RV Park was sincere, the owners gave us considerable attention for someone staying just one night.
We proceeded to the Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame after setting up Khan. It was a small museum in a big space, and was hosting a valentine’s day ice skating party (apparently they make a plastic artificial ice replacement you can ice skate on.) There weren’t many exhibits, and there were no knowledgeable docents, but the exhibits were interesting and mainly explained well. Did you know that horse-drawn water wagons were symbols of the temperance movement – apparently temperance proponents would declare they would rather drink this water than alcohol. This led to the phrase, “falling off the wagon” to describe someone who has lapsed in their sobriety.
Since that museum didn’t take long, we checked out MY WILD WEST SHOW “HARDYWOOD” – an eccentric attraction in a seedier part of town. We didn’t get out of the jeep but we took pictures.
Back to the RV for a night of leftovers and emailing and blogging before our big day tomorrow of meetings and driving to Alamogordo.
2 responses to “Q & A Day and Now in New Mexico”
Were there many people skating on the fake ice? We are looking to make a skating rink at the railroad to bring people into town in the early part of each year when things are slow. The fake ice rinks are very cheap but we wondered if folks would not find them sufficiently romantic.
Were there many people skating on the fake ice? We are looking to make a skating rink at the railroad to bring people into town in the early part of each year when things are slow. The fake ice rinks are very cheap but we wondered if folks would not find them sufficiently romantic.